With help from Erica Martinson, Bob King, Alex Guillén, and Darren Goode

LCV OUT WITH NEW MICHIGAN SENATE AD: The League of Conservation Voters is going after Michigan Senate candidate Terri Lynn Land in a new television advertisement that criticizes the Republican’s stance on climate change and ties her to the Koch brothers. The ad is part of a $400,000 LCV ad campaign against Land that picks up on themes emphasized by Rep. Gary Peters, the Democrat running for the open Senate seat. Watch the ad: http://bit.ly/1ts5x2X And read more about how climate change is influencing the Michigan Senate race: http://politi.co/1q8DQtt

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LAND HITS PETERS OVER PETCOKE ‘HYPOCRISY’: Not to be outdone, Land is again hitting Peters over petroleum coke in a new web ad. Land criticizes Peters for opposing Detroit’s now-defunct petcoke piles, even though he made a $19,000 investment in French oil supermajor Total, which has a petcoke operation. Watch the ad here: http://bit.ly/1pmiAev And read more about the fight over petcoke in the Michigan Senate race here: http://politi.co/1B8tzB4

POLITICO GETS A NEW ENERGY REPORTER: Let’s all extend a warm welcome to Elana Schor, who will join the POLITICO energy team on Sept. 15. Most of you already know Elana from her fantastic coverage of the Keystone XL oil pipeline and other issues at E&E news. She’ll continue covering Keystone — and all things oil and gas — once she arrives. Until then, you can follow her on Twitter: @ eschor.

IN OTHER MEDIA NEWS: The New York Times, which came under criticism for shuttering its environment desk last year, has assigned an editor to climate change and environmental coverage. Mashable has more details: http://on.mash.to/1oB7qm5

— ME readers may remember that POLITICO got the first full reporter tour of the facility in July. The project and others like it are just gearing up as the Obama administration mulls just how much it wants to support the advanced biofuels industry on the regulatory side. Check out Erica’s story here: http://politico.pro/Z67buu

GAZPROM-LINKED BANK HIRES FORMER SENATORS TO LOBBY: A bank affiliated with Russian energy giant Gazprom has hired former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and former Sen. John Breaux to lobby against U.S. sanctions. According to a lobbying disclosure Friday, Lott and Breaux will focus on “banking laws and regulations including applicable sanctions” on behalf of Gazprombank. Gazprombank was founded by Gazprom and is one of the targets of U.S. sanctions on Russian companies. Your morning host has more here: http://politi.co/1qZhirf

CLIMATE PAC ENDORSES MICHIGAN DEMS: Climate Hawks Vote, a grassroots super PAC that backs climate-minded candidates, is endorsing Paul Clements, the Democrat who is mounting a long-shot bid to unseat House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, and Rep. Gary Peters who is facing off against Republican Terri Lynn Land to replace retiring Michigan Sen. Carl Levin. “We wouldn’t be endorsing if we didn’t think Clements has a chance; he’s considered to be Upton’s toughest challenger in years, and anything can happen to entrenched incumbents in a year in which Eric Cantor lost,” the group says in an email to supporters shared with ME.

REPUBLICANS PROBING NRDC INFLUENCE: The GOP-led campaign against the Natural Resources Defense Council continues. House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa and Senate Environment and Public Works ranking member David Vitter have opened a probe into the role NRDC played in EPA’s actions on power plant climate regulations and Alaska’s Pebble Mine project. The Republicans are requesting documents and other materials from EPA and NRDC regarding the group’s potential role in helping shape the agency’s proposed carbon dioxide restrictions for existing power plants and tighter water restrictions that could kill the proposed gold and copper project near Alaska’s Bristol Bay. EPA, in a statement, pushed back on the notion that NRDC has an outsize influence on its policies. Read Republicans’ letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy here: http://1.usa.gov/1w3APeO And their letter to NRDC President Frances Beinecke here: http://1.usa.gov/1uuYXpB

NRDC STRIKES BACK: “Sen. Vitter, Rep. Issa and their colleagues are acting as if fighting for public health were an un-American activity. Democratic and Republican presidents dating back to Dwight Eisenhower have worked to curb pollution and protect our natural resources. It is tragic that in 2014, Sen. Vitter and his colleagues fail to understand that Americans want the air they breathe and the water they drink to be clean,” NRDC spokesman Ed Chen said in a statement.

FUTUREGEN WINS KEY PERMIT: EPA has for the first time approved four “class VI” permits allowing FutureGen Industrial Alliance to inject carbon dioxide deep underground for permanent storage. FutureGen is a demonstration project designed to capture CO2 from a retrofitted coal-fired power plant in Meredosia, Illinois. FutureGen plans to sequester 1.1 million tons of CO2 4,000 feet underground annually for 20 years, EPA said.

FUTUREGEN ALLIANCE IS THRILLED: FutureGen Alliance CEO Ken Humphreys: “This type of permit is specifically designed for CO 2 storage applications. The issuance of the permit is a major milestone that will allow FutureGen 2.0 to stay on track to develop the first ever commercial-scale, near-zero emissions coal-fueled power plant with integrated carbon capture and storage.”

PRITZKER SAYS THERE ARE NO CHANGES TO EXPORT POLICY: U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker repeated today that there has been no change in U.S. policy regarding restrictions on crude oil exports. “At this point, our policy regarding crude oil exports remains as is,” Pritzker told reporters in a conference call to discuss the Obama administration’s National Export Initiative and two new reports on state and metro area exports.

IER LAUNCHES ELECTRICITY CAMPAIGN: The Institute for Energy Research, a not-for-profit that has ties to industry and the Koch brothers, is launching a new campaign called the “story of electricity” aimed at explaining how the electric grid works. The campaign, which includes a website [ http://bit.ly/1w4iFtl] and a video [ http://bit.ly/W8kQPt], also raises questions about wind and solar power (“unreliable power makes blackouts more likely,” the campaign website says), while touting coal, natural gas and nuclear power. IER plans to focus more heavily on the grid. The group recently hired Travis Fisher, a former FERC economist, to oversee its work on electricity issues.

— “BP Plc asked a U.S. court on Tuesday to fire the court-appointed lawyer tasked with paying out compensation to people affected by the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, saying Patrick Juneau had not disclosed an alleged conflict of interest before taking the job.” Reuters: http://on-msn.com/1qxmPIg

— A warming planet could mean more polar vortices, according to a new study. The Associate Press: http://bit.ly/W7FMpQ

— “Certain members of the Department of Energy's panel reviewing its national laboratories are paid consultants to some of the same labs that they are charged with overseeing.” Greenwire: http://bit.ly/1BaxyNz

** A message from Vet Voice Foundation: Tens of thousands of service members and veterans rely on public lands to hunt, fish, camp and heal from the wounds of war. These lands are part of the American heritage we fought for. As a new President and Congress look to rebuild America's infrastructure, we call on them to make an equal investment in maintaining our public lands and parks for our service members and all Americans. Support for our veterans must extend to investing in and protecting America’s natural heritage, for our children and grandchildren. www.VetVoiceFoundation.org **

Authors:

About The Author

Andrew Restuccia is an energy reporter for POLITICO Pro.

Prior to joining POLITICO, Restuccia covered energy and environmental politics and policy at The Hill. He also reported on energy policy for The Washington Independent and Inside Washington Publishers.

Restuccia graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in journalism. He grew up in Massachusetts, where he got his start as an intern at the Lowell Sun.